Leslie DeLano became the head women’s lacrosse coach in 2003 and has since earned the most wins in school history while taking the Engineers to levels not previously reached. Her teams have three of the top four single season win totals and three league championships.
DeLano, who set the program's standard for coaching wins in 2012 (16-2), has an overall record of 142-117-1 (.548) and has coached 48 All-League honorees and 96 conference All-Academic student-athletes.
Consistently playing one of the most difficult schedules in the Northeast, Rensselaer has won 39 games, including 23 in Liberty League competition, in the past six
seasons, though the 2020 campaign was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 season was not possible due to coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions.
The Engineers, who played in the conference semifinals in 2018, have captured IWLCA All-Academic team honors each year.
From 2011 to 2014, DeLano's teams reached double digit victories each season and won three Liberty League Championships. She guided the 2011 squad to a 10-5 record, including 6-2 in conference play, with a second straight appearance in the league tournament semifinals. Senior attack Stephanie Caouette was the catalyst as she became the program's all-time leader in several statistical categories, including goals (114), assists (56) and points (170).
The 2012 season was historic as the Engineers set a new standard for wins in a season, going 16-2 overall with a school-record 8-1 in the Liberty League. They won the conference regular season title and defeated perennial power William Smith College - DeLano's alma mater - for the championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The invitation to the national tournament was the second in program history.
That season's individual accolades included goalie Allie Arnal earning Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year and DeLano being named the Coach of the Year.
RPI not only matched its 16 wins the following season (16-4) and won the Liberty League regular season (8-1) and tournament titles, but advanced the farthest in the NCAA Tournament in school history. The Engineers, once again backstopped by the Defensive Player of the Year in Arnal, won its first two tournament games, including a home contest, before dropping an Elite 8 match-up at Middlebury College, 10-8.
The 2014 campaign marked a fourth straight double digit victory total (13-5), the first-ever undefeated conference record (9-0), a third straight Liberty League Tournament crown and yet another trip to the NCAA Tournament. Three of the team's six All-Liberty League honorees were named to the First Team, led by attack Meg Colitz, who would go on to set the school's scoring records before she graduated.
Hired prior to the 2003 season, DeLano saw her teams win at least six games in five of her first eight years, including an 8-6 mark in 2010. The most recently completed season, 2019, saw the Engineers qualify for the Liberty League Tournament.
Before becoming Rensselaer's head coach, DeLano was an intern for the department's women’s lacrosse and field hockey programs while also serving as an advisor to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). She is active on campus, in particular in the area of sexual assault prevention and education, and in the community as a volunteer.
Prior to returning to the Capital District, the Guilderland, N.Y., native was a graduate assistant with the lacrosse team at Washington College in Chestertown, Md.
A 2000 graduate of William Smith, DeLano (previously Khachadourian) was a soccer and lacrosse standout for the nationally-ranked Herons. She played three years as a goalkeeper in soccer, including a season in which the team played in the NCAA Championship game. She was also a three-year starting goalie in lacrosse, earning All-America First Team and the Division III Goalkeeper of the Year Award as a senior.
DeLano earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and American Studies from William Smith and a Master of Science in Management from Rensselaer.
She and her husband Chris have two children, Briggs and Tatum.
Updated May 2021
